Free Kick in Soccer
A free kick is often a scoring opportunity, a chance to change the game or even history. But what’s the difference between a direct and indirect free kick in soccer?
Free kicks are common in soccer, they happen in every game and often prove to be decisive. There are few moments more spectacular than a classic free kick goal. A team awarded a free kick in the opponent’s half of the pitch will usually see it as an opportunity to score a goal. A free kick in their own half would be a chance to regroup and regain control of the ball and the momentum of the game.
There are two types of free kick in soccer: a direct and an indirect free kick and they are mutually exclusive.
When do free kicks happen?
When a player commits a foul, a free kick is awarded to the opposing team by the referee. If the foul was committed in the player’s own penalty box, a penalty would be awarded to their opponents. The referee announces this by blowing their whistle, and the ball is brought back to where the foul was committed.
The referee can choose to allow play to continue if they see that the team who suffered the foul would benefit more from being allowed to play on, which is known as ‘advantage’. An example of this would be if they still have control of the ball despite the foul while in the fouling team’s half of the pitch. If a serious foul is committed play would always be stopped so that the referee can show a yellow or red card to the offending player.
Watch: A selection of free-kick goals from Bundesliga season 2023/24
What is a direct free kick in soccer?
A team can score directly only from a direct kick in soccer.
When the referee judges that a foul has been committed, they will decide whether a direct or an indirect free kick should be taken. The referee communicates their decision to award a direct free kick by blowing their whistle and pointing towards the goal. If the foul is committed inside the penalty area, a penalty kick is awarded.
A free kick is awarded to the opposing team when a player commits any of the following offences:
- attempted or actual kicking, hitting, spitting at, pushing over, or any other attempt to cause physical harm to an opponent
- holding on to an opponent’s shirt
- verbally abusing an opponent
- a handball, which means an outfield player touching the ball with their hand or arm, or the goalkeeper doing so outside their own penalty box
- committing a tackle without making contact with the ball
- dangerous tackles such as sliding in with studs visible
- dangerously high feet near another player, for example when one player is attempting to header, or control the ball with their upper body or head, and another player chooses to use their foot
- diving, which means falling over dramatically, usually in the opponent’s penalty box, in an attempt to make the referee believe that an opponent committed a foul
What is an indirect free kick in soccer?
When the referee decides that an indirect free kick should be awarded, they blow their whistle as with the direct free kick, but they raise one arm directly up in the air, instead of pointing their arm towards the goal.
Common offences that lead to an indirect free kick being awarded include:
- being offside
- blocking or obstructing an opponent whether they have the ball or not
- obstructing the opposition goalkeeper when they are kicking off
- a goalkeeper picking up a back pass that his own defender played to him using their foot
- a goalkeeper holding the ball for more than six seconds
For an indirect free kick, the player striking the ball is not allowed to kick it straight into the goal, and if they do it would be disallowed. The ball must touch an outfield player from their own or the opponent’s team before going into the goal, for the goal to count.
If an indirect free kick accidentally goes into their own goal, the goal would also be disallowed, and the ball will be given to the opposing team to play as a corner kick.
What role does the wall play in a free kick?
If a free kick poses an immediate goal threat, several players of the defending team will stand in line to form a wall giving the striking player less chance of scoring. The players, collectively known as ‘the wall’, must observe the universal soccer free kick wall distance of 9.15 metres from where the ball is placed on the ground. Any number of players can form the wall, but once there are more than three players all opposition players must keep at least 1 metre away from them.
The referee helpfully marks the distance from the ball to the wall using a coloured spray which then disappears after one minute.
Free kicks in the penalty area
Although most fouls in the penalty area result in a penalty being awarded, there are certain circumstances under which a free kick would be given. If a goalkeeper holds on to the ball for more than six seconds or picks up a back pass that was kicked to them by their defender, the offence will be awarded an indirect free kick in the penalty area.
It’s a great opportunity for the offence to score, and always creates a huge tension for the players and the fans too.
One example that will be remembered and talked about for years to come, was on the final match day of the Bundesliga in the 2000/2001 season. Bayern Munich and Schalke 04 were the two teams contesting the title, and in the fourth minute of stoppage time Schalke 04 was holding on for glory. But their goalkeeper picked up a back pass, an action that will forever haunt him because Bayern Munich was awarded an indirect free kick. In those dying moments of the game and the season Patrik Andersson wrote his name in soccer history by converting the free kick into a goal, winning Bayern Munich the Bundesliga title.